Everybody is looking for more ways to workout harder and more effectively. When you push yourself and really strive to do your best in the gym or wherever you're training, you will be able to improve results. This holds true whether you're looking to get rid of extra fat, build more lean muscle, or both. So when you're looking for a way to get ahead, take advantage of these 3 tips to make your workout harder and more successful.
One of the first ways to make your workout harder will be to use more weight. When you lift heavier amounts, you get progressively more of a challenge, and even small changes to the amount of weight you use can add great amounts of difficulty to an exercise. You might think that if you add 10% more weight to what you do, it's only 10% more difficult, but that's not the case. It's actually much more difficult than that, because your muscles reach a point where they simply don't have that much more strength in reserve.
When that happens, you'll really be activating all of those dormant muscle fibers that you haven't been successfully targeting before. This will enable you to see much improved results, and you'll feel it in your body the next day with sore muscles looking to recover, repair and grow bigger and stronger than ever. Pushing your muscles to the brink of failure by adding more weight in this fashion is an excellent way to make a more challenging and more effective workout.
The second way you can make your workout harder is by doing a harder version of the same exercise you're already doing. Almost all exercises have small variations you can work in to raise the difficulty of them. By adding that extra element of difficulty and challenge, you'll force your body and your muscles to work out that much harder, and your results will be that much better.
For example, if you're at the gym working on the bench press, you can focus on negative repetitions, slowly lowering the weight for between 5 and 10 seconds before lifting it back up. It's the same bench press exercise, but with a harder twist worked in, and you'll notice right away how much of a challenge it becomes. By making this sort of change, you'll force your body to adapt and grow stronger. Not only that, but this also will add variation into your workout, which will keep your training from getting stale and your progress from stalling.
Finally, the third tip you can begin using immediately to make a workout harder is to add more repetitions to your sets when you can't add more weight. This really comes into play when you're working with bodyweight exercises, or when you're performing cardio or interval type of exercises. If you have been doing push-ups, for example, instead 3 sets of 20, do 3 sets of 25 or 30, and keep on moving progressively upward. If you have been doing 5 sprints in one interval set, do six or seven to push yourself that much more.
It's the small differences like this that make a big difference in your total effort and the results that you'll experience. Remember that when you workout and train, you always have to be moving forward and progressing, and that's the only way to truly succeed with your goals. Don't just stay doing the same old thing over and over again and then wonder why you don't achieve the results you'd like.
Of course, there are many other ways that you can workout harder as well. It's all about putting together an effective workout program which suits your needs and your best interests. When you really give it your all, and you push yourself to do your best and always train hard, then the results will come.
You'll be able to push past plateaus and trouble areas, and you'll begin making progress. The body you've always wanted and always strived for can be within reach with the right knowledge, tips and ideas on your side. So get started with the above ways to make your workout harder and you'll be right on track to accomplish all of your fitness goals.
Darragh Holland is a Cavan Personal Trainer and also runs his own Bootcamps.
He has helped people to lose weight and get toned so be sure to check out his Cavan personal training studio.
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